In the North

Please Note: These historical documents may or may not represent the current position of Free Will Baptists on any given issue. Many files are Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files. They are quite large and may take a long time to download. For ease of viewing, download only the files in which you are interested and read them at your leisure.

This significant work details the lives and organization of early Free Will Baptists. Compiled over a two-year period, this illustrated book published in 1889, remains one of the most significant sources of Freewill Baptist history. The Cyclopedia was compiled by G. A. Burgess and J. T. Ward.

A. D. Williams made significant contributions to the Free Will Baptist movement as an editor, pastor, educator, and home missionary. Editor of the Freewill Baptist Quarterly, he helped to establish FWB works in West Virginia, Nebraska, and Minnesota. He published several books including the Rhode Island Free Will Baptist Pulpit. In later years he became President of Oakland City College and helped establish the continued success of this General Baptist university. This biography was published by D. B. Montgomery, 1905.

The Life and Influence of Benjamin Randall by Frederick Wiley. “As with the heavenly bodies, so with some earthly bodies, in contemplation of them, we may “think God’s thoughts after him.” As with the heavenly bodies, so with Benjamin Randall. In his sterling ancestry, his eventful career, and his glorious ascension to the life more abundant, we have a clear illustration of the design, the providence, and the grace of God.”

Clement Phinney was a Free Will Baptist evangelist born in Gorham, Maine in 1780. He worked faithfully as an evangelist. Written by D. M. Graham, this volume provides fascinating details about his life and ministry.

Written by Colby himself, this volume details his remarkable life and experiences. Colby only lived from 1787-1817. In those 30 short years he literally spent himself sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You will be blessed by the life and ministry of this great Free Will Baptist evangelist.

Charles Bowles was born in Boston in 1751. His father was an African servant, his mother the daughter of Revolutionary War hero Col. Morgan. The book traces Bowles’ life, from his marriage to “his cousin” to his religious conversion and his life as a Free Will Baptist minister. The book includes two essays. The first denounces America’s “negro-hate” and its effort “to drive the colored man from within the pale of human society.” The second, by Rev. Authur Dearing urges readers to civil disobedience, because the Fugitive Slave Act is contrary to Natural Rights. The book gives its readers a glimpse into Free Will Baptist’s connection with the Abolition Movement of the 19th century.

‪Containing the story of his education, his experience and conversion, his public and ministerial labors, together with an interesting account of his travels in various parts of the United States and Canada. Embracing a period of half a century. From 1822 to 1872, Volume 1.

Doctrine

Please note: These historical documents may or may not represent the current position of Free Will Baptists on any given issue.

Published from1853-1869, in seventeen volumes, the quarterly contained essays addressing subjects from Islam to the inspiration of Scripture, Slavery to the biblical role of the pastor. The pages of the quarterlies paint a vivid picture of the Free-will Baptist movement in the north during the mid-19th century.